The general public lacks information about important mental health benefits, and this lack of information represents a barrier in their seeking care when needed, according to a study by the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University published in the February issue of Psychiatric Services.
A telephone interview of 1,358 random sample adults in Michigan between 1997-1998, revealed a large proportion of the respondents were uninformed about their mental health benefits. One-quarter of the sample was unsure if their health plan even included mental health services, while 43 percent believed that mental health benefits were equal to benefits provided for general medical services.
Given the overriding preference for primary care providers to treat mental health problems, particularly among older adults, the authors recommend mental health issues should be given more attention at all levels of primary care education.
["Knowledge of Mental Health Benefits and Preferences for Type of Mental Health Providers Among the General Public," by Maureen Mickus, et. al., p. 199] APAfastFAX#6906
Also in the February issue of Psychiatric Services:
The Lawyerization of American Mental Health
An editorial by Psychiatric Services editor John A. Talbott, M.D., and a commentary by Paul S. Appelbaum, M.D. explore the positive and negative aspects of a pioneering 1952 model commitment law as well as the developments that followed. Dr. Talbott notes that the legal rights of seriously mentally ill citizens, which started off with some decisions still left in medical hands, deteriorated into an imbalanced system with overwhelming weight placed in the hands of judges and legal advocates. Dr. Appelbaum offers an analysis on the revised Draft Act Governing Hospitalization of the Mentally Ill. He includes its psychiatric context in the five-year period between 1951 and 1955 and later developments related to involuntary commitment.
["Taking Issue: The Lawyerization of American Mental Health," by John A. Talbott, p. 153] APAfastFAX#6908
["The Draft Act Governing Hospitalization of the Mentally Ill: Its Genesis and Its Legacy," by Paul S. Appelbaum, p. 190] APAfastFAX#6907
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Psychiatric Services is published by the American Psychiatric Association, a national medical specialty society, founded in 1844, whose 40,000 physician members specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional illnesses and substance use disorders.
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Psychiatric Services